Tuesday, January 22, 2008

NCAA Recruiting Violations by Meyer?

Granted, we're not up to speed on every NCAA rule and regulation. Who is? But according to Lya Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune, Florida's Urban Meyer appears to have violated a couple of rules in his recruitment of Sierra Community College receiver Carl Moore.

As the story goes, Meyer wasn't having much success convincing Moore to transfer to Florida. Then Meyer learned that Moore's girlfriend, Maranda Smith, had competed for UCLA's gymnastics team in 2006, but quit after an injury.

Meyer went to work, contacting Florida gymnastics coach Rhonda Faehn for help. The Gators had a gymnastics scholarship available. According to the Gainesville Sun, Meyer started calling Smith daily back in November.

"He kept asking how Carl was doing and wanted me to come [to Gainesville] and do gymnastics," Smith said. "It was weird. But I really didn't know anything about college football anyway, so it was like I was talking to any other person. Then I started watching TV and I'd see him and I'd say, 'I just talked to him on the phone an hour ago.' "

Meyer's persistence paid off and Moore and Smith are now Gators. But here's the problem, according to Wodraska:

"First of all, as a football coach, Meyer cannot recruit for another sport. By contacting Smith, he broke the rule that all phone calls must be made by a head coach or one or more assistant coaches who count toward the limits of coaches who can recruit in a sport, which is three in gymnastics. Also, since he was effectively acting as a gymnastics coach, he broke the rule that in gymnastics coaches are allowed to contact recruits only once a week.

"It'll be interesting to see if this article brings any sort of punishment for Meyer and the Florida program. He has been known to stretch rules and recruiting ethics before, with numerous reports of how he still heavily recruited athletes after they'd given other schools oral commitments. I wonder how this is going to play out with the NCAA?"

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Florida has cleared Meyer of any improper communication with Moore and Smith.

Meyer's desperate need for upperclassmen is clear. Of Ron Zook's last recruiting class (2004) and Meyer's first class (2005), only 13 of the 41 signed players remain on the roster. That includes a backup kicker (Jonathan Phillips) and a tight end (Tate Casey) who may or may not play this season.

Coaches call parents, girlfriends, coaches, mentors, neighbors and friends of recruits all the time. Whoever is identified as an important co-decision maker gets pressed too these days. Programs clearly get jobs and make other arrangements for these folks, and the NCAA says it is OK. So Meyer does the same, even to the point of getting a young woman a college scholarship, and suddenly he is violating some code of ethics?

Bull. This is being spun to look as bad as possible by Miami and Florida State bloggers, and it's crap.

"Bull. This is being spun to look as bad as possible by Miami and Florida State bloggers, and it's crap."

How true. Leave it to scUM and f$u fans to stir up crap like that about UF - as if their programs are so squeaky-clean. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

To Anon#1: Urban Meyer isn't one to knowingly violate NCAA rules. Unless you have a copy of the NCAA rulebook in front of you, you ought to check your facts before you go spouting off as you've done. If all you're doing is trying to piss Gator fans off, STFU.

You know what really makes me laugh? Fans of other teams who think they know Gator football better than Gator fans do themselves. How's about taking care of business in your OWN backyards instead of being so quick on the trigger to call UF out? SHEESH!

I can tell this site's owner has a hard on for certain topics. The Gators, SEC, Rich Rod to name a few. Maybe these are the only subjects that will get him a little attention. I'm supposed to take the word of some "expert" bloggers on NCAA rules and violations, based on hearsay. We went through the same with with Coach Donovan, pure jealousy of the Gators.

What's with "Gayturds", Boz? Did you know that only retards and kindergarden kids talk gay smack on a sports message board or blog? Does your Mommy still have to hold you up and pull your pants down so you can go pee-pee in the potty?

Meyer didn't knowingly break the rules; at least he was upfront about what happened and brought it before the UF compliance official who ought to know what the NCAA rules are.

Yeah, I'm a pissed-off Gator - what the hell is wrong with that?

And you wanna know what? We're sick and effin' tired of everybody knocking our school for one thing or another - as if the rest of y'all are so perfect. Boz, go f**k yourself.

What's with "Gayturds", Boz? Did you know that only retards and kindergarden kids talk gay smack on a sports message board or blog? Does your Mommy still have to hold you up and pull your pants down so you can go pee-pee in the potty?

at least I dont hide behind an anonymous name when I talk smack.

on Meyer didnt knowlingly break the rules. unless your Urban himself, you have no idea what he knows.

the guys a sleaze and this isnt the first time this has been brought up. he'll say anything to get out of heavy trouble. its not like this is a heavy infraction. its better for him to admit t it rather than deny it.

gawd,

i hope Randy Shannon figures it out before the beginning of the season!!

I hate the turds said... They gayturds are a bunch of scumbags. I'm not surprise, I really hope the NCAA come real hard on them. Now all the gayturds bring is thugU, now we should really look at the arrest records.

You haters obviously do not know how this works. The only rule that was broken was that the girlfriend happened to be a student athlete in another sport (the only sport UGA happens to win more championships in). Urban called the girlfriend too many times under recruiting rules for GYMNASTICS, so the NCAA could construe this as GF being recruited and a volleyball violation, hence a SECONDARY violation. While it is a technical violation, the reasoning behind this rule is not Meyer recruiting a gymnastics player, but the gymnastics coach calling football players under the pretense she was recruiting his gymnastics GF but to get around the rule. So yes, a warning COULD be warranted, but the reason that this has not made it past the ticker on espnnews is it a LONG stretch, and the football program is not even the guilty party as the rule is written. Get used to UF winning and quit looking for BS recruiting violations. Anyone who has actually been to campus in Gainesville would understand we do not have to cheat to recruit.

LSU's top-rated football recruit, cornerback Patrick Johnson of Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla., said he still plans to join the Tigers even though he was unable to begin school this week as expected after his ACT score was flagged by the NCAA at the request of Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer.

Johnson, the nation's top-rated defensive back and No. 2 overall defensive prospect by Rivals.com, said he took the ACT again Thursday and is awaiting results in hope of registering for the spring semester by the deadline next Thursday.

"I'm still coming to LSU," Johnson said Friday via telephone from his Pompano Beach home. "(ACT officials) are trying to get me out and get everything cleared up. I was good to go regardless. I just had to take it again for the writing portion."

Johnson said he took the ACT three times before Thursday, scoring 22 in October after 16s on his first two.

Johnson said Florida had no problem with his academic eligibility when he first scored his ACT. It wasn't until after he decided to attend LSU that Urban Meyer had one of his assistant coaches contact the NCAA. ACT officials subsequently reviewed his test results at their request and "flagged" his October score.

"I'm not upset, Urban is" Johnson said. "Florida made an issue about the ACT score. They're cowards. He had to go behind my back when things didn't go his way. But that's OK. What goes around comes around. We play them this year (on Oct. 11 at Florida)."

Johnson, who committed to LSU on Jan. 5, had expected to arrive in Baton Rouge by Wednesday to begin taking classes and participate in spring practice with an eye toward earning a spot on the two-deep depth chart.

If Johnson does not meet Thursday's registration deadline, he still can sign with LSU on Feb. 6, national signing day, in anticipation of joining the Tigers in the fall.

Well, well, what do you know....things are being cleared up by journalists actually clarifying some comments before spouting off in an ill-informed blog.....and a reporter for the very heavily-leaning towards the Hurricanes Miami Herlad, no less:.......

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/uf/story/391061.html

I think that wraps it up. Her quotes were not accurate, she had actually been looking at UF for A YEAR before this nonsense is supposed to have taken place, and committed to Rhonda Faehn (gymnastics coach) BEFORE Carl Moore had firmed up his plans.

Guys it's UF, All they are known for is their unsportsman like conduct and dirty tactics. I don't care either way if the team gets punished. All i know is that it will one day catch up to them. And when it does i am going to sit back and smile!!

It's common knowledge that Urban Meyer is a dirty cheat. But I don't see the big deal. Even with all his cheap tricks, teams like Auburn still don't seem to have too much trouble with him. Oh, and Wes Byrum is offering arm-chomping lessons for all you newbie Gator fans out there.

First and foremost he is a HEAD COACH and as a head coach he has a standing duty to the University of Florida to follow a code of ethics and conduct. As a member of the NCAA he is also required to follow the rules and guidelines. Those rules and his commitment to adhering to those rules again would be cited in the code of ethics and code of conduct he received when he hired and probably every year since then. He has a certain accountability and responsibility to know and understand those rules. There are two solutions here....1. do like the business world and any wrong doings whether "at will" or "not at will" punishable by the same measures under a rule called accountability (like the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 ). In other words remove the ability to plead temporarily stupid or the "I don't know" from the equation. 2.Do like most all other schools and supply them yearly with a Code of Ethics and code of Conduct handbook and have them sign it along with a legal entity stating that I have read and understand everything expected of me and if I do something I understand that I will be held personally accountable and it is my responsibility to know what I can and cannot do. The lack of individual responsibility can be alleviated when any violations go after them personally as well as an organization. Be done with it and move on. Simple as that.